I usually don’t watch CNN but I happened to catch attorney, political commentator and former politician Bakari Sellers talking about the recent controversy involving Minnesota Congresswoman Ilhan Omar.

Rep. Omar was busted last week for tweeting Diddy’s “All About the Benjamins” in reference to the political influence of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC. The organization of U.S. citizens works to strengthen, protect and promote the U.S.-Israel relationship.

Omar has been consistent in bangin’ against many forms of lobbying, not just AIPAC, but because she is Black and a Muslim, she is being closely watched.

Although both progressives in the Democratic Party and pre-election Trump agreed that D.C. is swamped up with corporate and special interest groups overpowering voters, Omar was busted and handcuffed by Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, the mainstream media and members of the Congressional Black Caucus. They were watching her closely and found something to bust her on.

I’m familiar with Sellers as he is a regular on CNN and active on Twitter. He also graduated from my alma mater, Morehouse College, in Atlanta, Georgia. I try my best and have a natural inclination to root for “everyone Black” but I stopped rooting for Sellers last week.

I should have known that if you work at CNN, you’re likely problematic as the network fired our brother Lamont Hill for speaking up for the Palestinian people. After watching him on CNN condescendingly call Rep. Omar “ignorant” for her tweets, I grew suspicious and did some homework. Sellers’ attacks on Omar seemed a bit too aggressive — more than your average white guy in the Democratic Party.

The first thing that popped up was Sellers cheesing with pro-MAGA billionaire Sheldon Adelson, a right-wing Zionist who bangs hard for Israel and against Palestinians. He uses his big wallet to bang for his people and to influence political leaders in America as much as possible. (Omar’s position, along with other progressives, is that there is too much money swamping around in American politics that doesn’t put Americans first.)

Would Sellers ever call Adelson ignorant or even criticize him? Why go so hard on the Black woman when you won’t criticize right-wing extremists bangin’ for Israel?

The next thing that caught my eye is AIPAC recruited Sellers while he was student government president at Morehouse. Apparently, they have a strategy to recruit future Black leaders at HBCUs. They also fund trips to Israel so U.S. politicians can learn more about Israel. Sellers is one of many Black politicians whose trip to Israel was sponsored by AIPAC .

As of 2016, Sellers served on the national council of AIPAC and in 2018 he spoke at a national AIPAC conference so it’s safe to assume he is still AIPAC’d out.

Sellers made history in 2006 when, at age 22, he defeated a 26-year incumbent state representative to become the youngest member of the South Carolina state legislature and the youngest African American elected official in the nation.

Sellers said this at an AIPAC event about their support and sponsorship of his rise:

“The way I’m able to communicate, the exposure, the people that I’ve met – a lot of people I’ve met at the AIPAC policy conference became a huge part of my fundraising base,” Sellers told an AIPAC event.

Sellers personally lobbied on behalf of AIPAC by sending the following letter bangin’ against Iran and the BDS movement on college campuses. Why is a Black man from South Carolina bangin’ so hard for white folks, one could ask? You can find the deceit in corporate Democrats when they bang against MAGA white supremacy over here but crip walk for it over there. You can bang against a right-wing Donald Trump but you don’t have the courage and independence to bang against the right-wing Benjamin Netanyahu.

Let me define being “AIPAC’d out”. It’s when you go on national TV and criticize a Black woman who happens to be Muslim and call her words ignorant without telling the viewers that you have a conflicted professional relationship with AIPAC, the very organization this courageous Black woman is criticizing.

Black politicians have traditionally had a particular path to become successful. You need to partner with this lobby and that lobby to get funded and become streamlined in the political system in America. You need to have the right associations to join the ranks of America’s political design. Based on the increasing flow of information and the recent work by the Justice Democrats and other progressive leaders like Omar, I’m optimistic that the younger generation of Black America doesn’t have to be “AIPAC’d Out” and select the white group over the Palestinian group.

Being AIPAC’d out has no chance of being popular in Black America. Most of us want authentic leaders who rely on American voters vs. special interests groups like AIPAC. Admittedly, AIPAC is pro-Israel. Black people having an extreme pro-Israel bias within the context of global white supremacy is inconsistent with being pro-Black.

One thing about AIPAC is they are well funded with an annual budget of $100 million, super-organized, and they recruit extremely well at HBCUs. They seek to indoctrinate future Black leaders with pro-Israel philosophy.

It’s time to build strong Black organizations so that we see more leaders like Omar than Sellers in the U.S. Congress.

Next time Sellers talks about a serious subject related to AIPAC, the audience deserves to know whether he is “AIPAC’d out.” Sellers’ pro-Israel foreign policy and his political career seem to prove out what Omar was trying to say with Diddy’s “All About the Benjamins.”

About Jamarlin Martin

Jamarlin Martin is the founder and CEO of Nubai Ventures. A pioneer and thought leader in digital media, he grew his prior venture into a multiple-brand digital media and entertainment platform before selling three brands (Bossip, MadameNoire, and HipHopWired) to Urban One. Dubbed a "digital powerhouse" by Jet Magazine, Mr. Martin has been listed in the Ebony 100 list of most influential African-Americans. His insight and acumen have been hailed in the press, including Inc. Magazine; OZY Media, which described him as an "Emperor of Digital Media"; Advertising Age; Digiday; and Fortune's "David and Goliath" column. Highly respected in the digital media industry, Mr. Martin received the prestigious EY Entrepreneur of the Year Award in 2015, amongst other noteworthy awards. He is often cited as a subject-matter expert in paid discovery marketing, which he considers an essential element to grow multimillion dollar digital brands in the shortest time possible. Jamarlin Martin's media career began with blogging on financial markets, where he founded The Detached Trader. He attended Syracuse University College of Law and earned his political science degree from Morehouse College.

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